Officials Rushed to Finish New Amtrak Route, Started Service without Safety Technology: Originally planning to open the line in 2019, officials sped up their timeline to finish it this year in order to get federal stimulus funding, the Seattle Times reports. A derailment on Monday, the new route's first day of service, killed three people and injured dozens. When the train's new route launched this week, it did so without a safety technology called positive train control, which can help prevent derailments, in use. "I’ve seen too many accidents that could have been prevented on overspeed derailments with positive train control," Bob Chipkevich, a former director of investigations for the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Times. About a year ago, the freight program manager for Washington State Department of Transportation expressed concerns about installing the technology in time.
"They Were Near if Not Best Friends." Jim Hamre, 61, and Zack Willhoite, 35, were two rail enthusiasts and close friends killed in Monday's derailment. Both advocated for rail and Willhoite worked for Pierce Transit. Carl Fowler, a longtime friend, told the Times: "Often people who passionately care about a cause come off as sort of nutty kooks, but Jim and Zack were really, one, wonderful people and two, professionals. They saw an issue that nobody thought had any consequence and they stuck to it, not just doggedly, but creatively.”
Still Hospitalized: Twenty-seven people injured in the derailment remain hospitalized, some in critical condition.
The Tax Overhaul Will Happen: Republicans have nearly done it. The tax overhaul that will benefit the super-rich and repeal Obamacare's individual mandate, passed the House and Senate on a party-line vote. It will now go back to the House for approval of minor changes and then to the president.
Lawsuit Says Lululemon Allowed Serial Harasser to Remain Employed: Buzzfeed reports on a new lawsuit against the company that sells $98 yoga pants. The suit alleges that Lululemon promoted and relocated an employee who had faced sexual harassment complaints. After arriving at his new store location, the employee then allegedly sexually harassed and raped another employee. The lawsuit says the company is "the perfect environment for a sexual predator." Lululemon says the alleged harasser was investigated but not found to have violated the company's rules of conduct.
The Port of Seattle Has a New Executive Director: He's a retired US Coast Guard rear admiral. He'll make $350,000. Sydney has everything you need to know about him.
Bad News for Governor Jay Inslee's Greenhouse Gas Plans: A Superior Court judge has ruled that Washington cannot enforce parts of its rule requiring industrial companies like refineries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Business groups and private utilities challenged the rule.
Hanford Employees Drove Contaminated Cars Home: "Out of 100 cars surveyed, eight had plutonium particles on them—four personal cars and four government vehicles. Two of the personal cars with contamination were driven home by the unknowing employees over the weekend," KING 5 reports.
Seattle Picks Members of Head Tax Task Force: Kirsten Harris-Talley, Lisa Daugaard, Ian Eisenberg, and 13 others.
Seattle Bike Blog on Anti-Homeless Bike Racks: The city installed the racks in Belltown to discourage people from camping on the sidewalk. "Bike racks are for improving bike access to businesses and other destinations, not for forming a physical impediment to our neighbors who are just looking for a dry place to sleep," writes Seattle Bike Blog's Tom Fucoloro. "The idea that something this blog and many other advocates for bike access have worked so hard to get into the levy and city budget was used in such an inhumane way makes me feel ill."
